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Summary of the Past Year 2011 has surely been a year of trial and tribulations for children across the globe struggling for freedom and their basic human rights. I wish I could write and say that 2011 was the year that we abolished child trafficking, child marriage, prevented children dying from preventable childhood diseases and […]

It is December and that means holiday parties and awards for most companies, organizations and government departments. So here is a little award of my own. Two of Transparency International’s (TI) biggest reports were recently released. The first is the 2011 Bribe Payer’s Index (BPI). The 2011 BPI ranks 28 of the world’s largest economies […]

The year is certainly not over yet – the annual international UN climate conference is ongoing in South Africa for the next ten days.  Nevertheless, here’s a quick look at what we’ve seen – and what we might expect in 2012. Casting back to my look at 2010 and beyond, I predicted witch hunts from […]

Co-Authored with William Sweet U.S.-Russia 123 and New START A relatively busy year in arms control and nonproliferation started out with two events that were set into motion the year prior: entry into force for the U.S. Russian Agreement for Civilian Nuclear Cooperation (the so-called 123 agreement) and the bilateral New START agreement. The congressional […]

Zero New HIV Infections. Zero Discrimination and Zero AIDS Related Deaths. In 1988, the UN General Assembly expressed deep concern over the pandemic proportions of the AIDS virus. Following the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of 1 December 1988 as World AIDS Day, the General Assembly drafted resolution 43/15. According to the 2011 World AIDS Day Report, […]

The Foreign Policy Association has asked the blog team to write year-end summaries and even provided a nice little template for us to follow. So, without further ado: Summary of the Past Year What an extraordinary year 2011 has turned out to be. The U.S. appears to have successfully navigated a year of extreme turbulence […]

Although global health in 2011 was overshadowed by the economic recession and related budget cuts by donor countries, there were a few rays of hope to be found.  Much progress has been made in combating some global epidemics and more attention has been paid to others.  Innovations in global health, from simple solutions to harnessing […]

Efforts to combat trafficking are diverse and growing. Businesses, NGOs, academics, politicians, governments and individuals all have a role to play. So, instead of spending Thanksgiving weekend watching the Macy’s Parade, eating turkey and shopping (my usual Thanksgiving activities), I was in Amsterdam and London for meetings on fighting human trafficking. Human trafficking, or modern […]

The year 2011 has been marked by a continued, if not official, recession in the U.S., while other Western nations have turned to austerity measures to fight off national bankruptcy. Developing African states have suffered through famine and extreme violence, while the youth in the Middle East have raised their voices and fists to proclaim […]

Iraq has agreed to a $17 billion deal covering the next 25 years with Royal Dutch Shell and Mitsubishi to capture the natural gas that is currently being flared off in its southern oil fields. The BBC reports “The new venture will be called Basra Gas Company, with Iraq holding a 51% stake, Royal Dutch […]

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) came into being at the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992.  The 17th Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the convention got underway yesterday in Durban, South Africa.  There are 194 countries that are party to the convention, plus the European Union.  There are also […]

Thousands gathered in Senegal yesterday for the opening of the second International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP), the largest meeting of its kind, which will run until December 2, 2011. The objective of the groundbreaking meeting is to push forward an agenda for broad family planning access and support across the globe. The outcome of the […]